


After the War

by ShortMcCake



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, F/F, F/M, Graphic Description, Heavy Angst, Major Character Injury, Master/Slave, Slavery, triggering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-02 17:06:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10948944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShortMcCake/pseuds/ShortMcCake
Summary: With the human-Faunas war over. Everything seemed like it was going to be okay. An era of peace. At least, that's what it seemed for the Humans. For the Faunas, it was a completely different story. Taken as prisons after the war, the Humans put collars on them and started to sell them off to other Humans as Slaves. Or as they like to call them, animals. One of these Faunas', Blake Belladonna, was at the top of the slave market. Jumping from owner to owner. No human ever able to handle her. That was until a certain Blonde Huntress sees her.





	1. New life

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm posting this from my Fanfiction account to here as well. I'm trying to get used to the way things are done on this site so bear with me.

“ _BLAKE!” she looked back to see her friends getting cornered by the humans. She wanted nothing more than to jump in there and save them, but then a red-haired man appeared in front of her vision, stopping her before she could go to save them all. “Blake! You need to run! Get out of here!” He turned his back to her, quickly fighting off some of the humans._

 

“ _Adam! I can help!” She yells back at him, pulling Gambol shroud out from where she has it holstered on her back._

 

“ _No!” He screams back at her, “You have to escape! Worn all the others! Go! NOW!”_

 

_She hesitantly took a step back. Adam... he wanted her to leave him, to leave all her friends behind. How could she? But she did. She ran away from the fight. Heading to the other camps of the White Fang to worn all the others. Their position has been found. They were surrounded. There was no way that any of them was going to be making it out of this._

 

_She let herself take one last look at everyone she was leaving behind. Flames engulfing their camp. Adam? Where was he? Then her eyes did fall upon him. His body, laying limp-less on the ground with several humans surrounding him. Her eyes widen at the realization of the situation. Adam, her love, was dead. Body covered in blood. She returned her gaze forward, tears streaming down her face._

 

_It was all over._

* * *

 

Blake jolted up in her floor mattress. Sweat pouring off of her. Once again she had relived that dreadful day. She lets out a heavy breath and looks around the gigantic room she was in. Bodies of other Faunas' are laying there, sleeping together. Some of them had huddled together for warmth. Blake slowly lays back down and stares at the stone ceiling. The room is pitch black, no windows to give some sort of light. There was no telling if it really was night time or if it was day time outside. The only time they knew anything was when a slave trader came in to take one of them.

 

That's right. Blake Belladonna, top ranking official in the White Fang, was now nothing more than a slave to the human race. After that day that their camp was found and attacked, many Faunas were captured to become slaves. It was, as the humans put it, the best way to keep these _animals_ under control.

 

The Faunas lets out a sigh. This wasn't the first slave camp she has been at. She was famous as a slave. Many wanted her, just so they could show that they had someone that was extremely special to the White Fang, working under them. Blake hated every single human that she has come into contact with. Eventually, her owners couldn't take her bad attitude, endless mind games, and constant misbehavior anymore and she would once again find herself in a slave camp.

 

Blake never talked to any of her brethren. Afraid to loose anyone ever again, she kept herself distant. They all knew who she was and they all looked up to her. Some even felt pity. It was no secret that Blake and Adam were an item back in their glorious days. Adam being the leader of the White Fang, and she his general. The loss of Adam struck a chord deep within the members so they all could only barely taste the sadness and turmoil Blake was probably in.

 

Though, it has been years since then. She still felt the sadness but now she mostly felt hollow inside. Nothing mattered anymore to her.

 

Her cat ears twitch to the sound of footsteps and she was aware that some of the other Faunas' had awoken to the sound of them as well. Some even started to coward in on themselves, hoping that if they formed enough into a ball that they wouldn't see them. Suddenly the door was thrown open, light beaming in and temporarily blinding them all as their eyes adjusted to the light.

 

Five different humans walked in, one staying at the door to make sure no one tries to escape, scanning the room for the one they were going to take. Her eyes met with one of them and she knew. They had come for her. Sighing she stood up as they approached her. Yet another human for her to terrorize until they decide they can't handle her anymore.

 

They led her out of the room and down the hallway. She couldn't hear her brethren low whispers of good luck anymore now. Finally they came to another door, which led them all into a room that looked like an office. This Slave camp was certainly more business like than the other ones she had been at. It was then she noticed that, instead of five guards, they had broken off to have only one escort her into the room. She could only guess that it was for show. Didn't want the customer to think that the slave they just bought was dangerous.

 

Her eyes fixated on the Blonde woman standing at the counter. A smile on her face as she was talking to the guy behind it. She was leaning up against it, making her breast pop out a bit more and Blake watched as that smile turned into a flirtatious grin. If that was Blake's new master she knew that things would at least be interesting.

 

The Blonde was wearing a long brown trench coat that covered up her short shorts. Her crop-top was currently on full display. A bright yellow color with an emblem of a heart on fire right over her own heart. Her hands are covered with a finger-less gloves. And that is what brought Blake to stare at her right hand. It was hard to miss the fact that her right fingers, were indeed, metal. To finish it off, the Blonde wore knee high, brown, combat boots.

 

As if she had said her thought out loud, the woman turned her gaze towards Blake. Slowly she moved back form the counter – Blake barely noticed the disappointed look on the males face – as she looked Blake up and down. Oh yeah, this definitely was her new master, if the Blonde would still take her after her inspection.

 

What surprised Blake the most was that the woman only looked at her, she didn't even come up to see if she had enough muscle to do anything. Just one simple look and she was paying the guy behind the counter. She motioned for Blake to follow her and that's exactly what the Faunas did. She wasn't used to just following her master out, but she understood why she was allowed to when her cat ears picked up what the guard was saying.

 

“That's Yang Xiao Long right? One of the Huntress' from that famous team RWBY? Man, I would feel bad for that cat if it wasn't for the fact that she probably deserves this.”

 

Would being the slave or such a well known person be so bad? She isn't going to be running away from her on their walk... Blake pauses and stares at the motorcycle that the Blonde was now getting herself situated on. _'OH HELL NO!'_ Blake screams in her mind as she watches the Blonde wave her over. This 'Yang' person really knew how to draw the Faunas out of her comfort zone.

 

“Um... I guess, if you are just going to stand there, I could just order you to get on the bike.” She says. The look of discomfort clear on her face. It was then that it occurred to Blake that the huntress really didn't know what she was doing with a slave. It was obvious that Yang has never had a slave before, even within the few minutes that the Faunas has been in her presence.

 

Deciding to have some mercy on her completely clueless master, she climbed on behind her and wrapped her arms around that blonde's waist, already clinging on for dear life. Her cat ears registering a low chuckle coming from the well-toned woman in front of her. Yes, Blake knew that she was extremely well-toned. She may have let her fingers glide across her ab muscles a bit when she wrapped her arms around her.

 

Then they were off. Blake was right on clinging on for her life.

* * *

It all but took ten minutes after arrive at a wood cabin, for Yang to have shown Blake her new bedroom. A small bed in the corner with a washing area just across from it. All in one room. At least it was a lot better than what she was used to. But it was still pretty crappy.

 

It was obvious that the huntress had no plans on coming back for the night. After all, Blake had heard the woman stomp her way upstairs to her own bedroom, which was evidently located right above her own.

 

Blake lets out a sigh as she sits down on her bed. This was just going to be another failure. One she plans on making fast. The thought of being in a house with a huntress or huntsmen sickens her to her stomach.

 

After all, they were the ones that killed Adam.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Blake awoke early in the morning. The small little window in her room, letting her know that it was just the beginnings of dawn. She sits up in her bed, stretching out her limbs and looks around. _'That's right. Some Huntress bought me yesterday.'_ Blake stands up and walks over to her small wash area. She picks up a bar of soap and looks over at the shampoo and conditioner that was conveniently left for her to use. _'This master is a nicer than the others I have experienced.'_

 

The Faunas washes up and starts to re-make her bed. Without her master coming to give her orders, she wasn't allowed to leave the room. It would result in punishment should she attempt to leave. Blake wasn't fond of the rules, but she also played the role of a good slave until at least two months time with the human. Most humans tend to reward good behavior, but only to an extent. Blake wanted to know how much she could get out of the huntress before she grew bored of her.

 

She didn't know how long she waited in her room for. It seemed like ages before a familiar set of footsteps could be heard from the room above her own. Blake's cat ears twitch and flicker at every sound that they picked up from the woman above her. The sound of water running indicated that the huntress was taking a shower.

 

A jolt of jealousy shot through the Faunas' nerves and her hands clenched up into fists. Blake missed the feel of hot water cascading down her body. The feel of actually getting clean and now she had to listen to this human girl take one. The beginnings of anger slowly start to make it's way up to the forefront of Blake's mind. The Faunas closes her eyes and takes a beep breath and slowly lets it back out.

 

_'Breath in, breath out.'_ Blake repeats to herself until she finally was able to look like her normal expressionless self again. Her ears flick up as they hear the door to her masters room open and then close. Blake had been so caught up in her own anger and jealousy that she completely missed out on the rest of the woman's morning routine.

 

Blake half expected the huntress to barge right into her room, instead – much to her amazement – A soft knock came through the door. The faunas had no idea what the hell was going on. So, she decided to play the master role for this part. “Come in.”

 

The Blonde huntress didn't really come in. She just opened the door and then leaned up against the door frame. Her lilac gaze studying Blake. It almost seemed like she could see right through her. That's when Blake noticed the uncertainty in her eyes. Once again Blake got the feeling that this woman had no idea what she was supposed to do with Blake.

 

Then she finally spoke. “I need you to clean the house. At your own pace, of course. I have a hunt I have to attend to.”

 

Blake tilts her head at the girl. Yang, she recalls hearing her name from one of the guards yesterday. “of course, mistress.” Blake replies, taking a silent note at the way Yang looked uncomfortable after hearing the title that Blake used on her. The Faunas, now just assume that the huntress had bought her just to fit in with her peers, decided that she wold have some fun. “And how would you like me to clean the house? With my hands and some dish soap? It won't be very effect but I'd be willing to give it a shot.” The sarcasm just rolling of her tongue like whip rolls out to straighten as it uncoils to collide with bare flesh.

 

The huntress was physically taken aback by the Faunas' comment. Obviously not expecting Blake to talk to her like that. Her eyes narrow a little before lightening up again. “Follow me.”

 

She did not have to ask twice. Blake was getting tired of that room. A new scenery was going to be nice, maybe it would look less like a prison. And she was right. Everything was was so bright, so normal. The hard wood floors, to the way that the Blonde had decorated the house. Everything seemed so, relaxing. Like it was made to make a person calm down and not let emotions get the best of them.

 

Yang had lead the Faunas to a closet next to the kitchen where she keeps all the cleaning supplies. Again, it surprised Blake how much cleaning supplies the woman had. As if she was reading Blake's mind, Yang answers her unspoken question. “I'm normally the only one in this house, so I had to keep it clean myself. I like being prepared for anything.” She shrugs, “Whatever you think you'll need to clean something, it should be in this closet. If it isn't then I'll go get it for you next time I'm in town. Just let me know.” Blake watched as Yang's steady gaze slid over to the oven and the time. She lets out a sigh, “I have to go now. I'll be back in a few hours. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen for lunch. Just try not to go overboard. Alright?” Without so much of an answer from Blake, the Blonde walks to the front door, grabbing her trench cost off from the Jacket hanger, she walks out the front door leaving the Faunas alone in the house.

 

Blake was Alone. She was never, EVER, left alone in any of the houses before. There was always supposed to be someone here to keep an eye on her. Just in case she got the guts to run for it. The thought crosses her mind. With the huntress gone, she could probably put quite a distance before she was getting hunted down by her or the slave hunters. Though without aura she wouldn't get very far.

 

She lets out a sigh and starts to grab what she thinks she'll need for the time being. _'Might as well begin.'_

* * *

 

_Blake was trapped inside a rectangular cage, surrounded by dozens of humans – much to her distress – who are holding up wads of cash and yelling on the top of their lungs. There was a few other humans dressed up more like bodyguards, making sure that non of the others would get to close to the cage._

 

_Anger, despair, sadness, and anxiety. That was what the Faunas was feeling all at once. The anger winning over all of them, she lashed out at one of the guards. Her nails scratching his cheek. The sound of him yelping in pain caused the crowd to stop. A small smile forming it's way on her lips. Then there was a sharp pain on the back of her head and the world went swimming._

 

_When her vision came back, she was chained up against a wall, her upper body on complete display for all those worthless humans to see. She would have felt exposed and embarrassed if it wasn't for all the looks of anger and disgust on their faces. Blake stared back at them with a cold, dead stare. Her cat ears reacted to the sound of leather hitting the floor behind her and she knew._

 

_She knew before the first strike slid across her back and her face contorted in pain. Yet she still did not give any of them the satisfaction of crying out. She was a proud member of the White Fang! The right hand to the leader! She would not let these humans see any weakness come from her._

 

_Another swish, another smack to her back and she felt the water in her eyes start to build up. Blake swallowed them back, she would not show any of them weakness._

 

_Again, there was a swish, a smack. And Again. And again._

 

_At some point her head had hung down as she stared at the floor. Pain radiating through her back. Once in awhile her muscles would twitch involuntary, causing another rush of pain. Her ears flickered at the sound of one of the humans talking. “Ha! Not so tough now, aren't ya, you stupid animal.”_

 

_Blake slowly lifted her head and stared out into the crowd with the same look she had given them before the whip made contact. There was no tears. No signs of her being in pain, despite the pain through her back. Her eyes made contact with the one who had said that. And she felt her give him the most sadistic evil smile she could muster. She watched as all the humans took a step back in fear. Trying to distance themselves from the monster that was chained in front of them._

 

_Again, her ears flickered at the sound of the whip hitting the floor before it was lifted up again. This time, the man who was in control of the damned device spoke. “Looks like the kitty needs another lesson.” her eyes settled back out into the crowd where she say a flash of gold*. Her eyes widen at the familiarity and she opens her mouth to scream out to it, but just then the whip made contact with her back again._

* * *

Blake slowly opens her eyes. She saw the ceiling fan of the living room first. Then her other senses came into play. She lets out a yawn as she sits up from the couch. The last thing she remembered was that it had hit noon. She had cleaned most of the house and the living room was all that was left, but then she felt the nice heat radiating from the sun that was coming in from windows and she suddenly felt sleepy. The Faunas must have decided to take a nap on the couch.

 

She covers her eyes with her hands and lets a sigh slip from her mouth. Again she dreamed of that gold menace. The thing that had condemned her life to this. She hadn't had dreams like this in years. The Faunas had thought that she had gotten over it, but with the return of the events from her pass, the return of the one thing that haunts her, told her that she was far from over it.

 

She grits her teeth in anger, about to just let it explode, until she smells a nice scent coming from the kitchen. It wafted through the house. Food. Her stomach growled and she looked up at this hand clock up on the wall behind the couch. Her eyes widen when she sees that it is now five o'clock in the afternoon. The huntress should be back by now and she had fallen asleep on the job!

 

Blake springs up from the couch and dashes into the kitchen. Her fears are confirmed when she sees the beautiful gold mane of her current master, standing behind the stove with a skillet bot cooking some food. In the back of her mind she had noticed the Blonde had made enough food for two people. Right now she is more worried about what her master was going to do to her.

 

The Huntress didn't even turn around to the presence of the girl. “Hello there sleeping beauty!” Her voice is high and chipper. Happy even though Blake was sleeping on her couch. “Did you have a nice cat nap?” And the huntress giggled to herself. “Sorry, I couldn't resist.”

 

Blake's ears twitch and she frowned. _'Was that... Was that a pun?'_ she thinks to herself. The Faunas shakes her head, “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep. I'll finish cleaning the house immediately.”

 

That made the Blonde stop and look at Blake. Her eyebrows raised in surprise. “The house is cleaned. Actually really clean.” She rubs the back of her head and gives Blake a million-watt smile, “It's almost TOO clean if I was being honest with you. What did you do, get on your hands and knees and just start scrubbing everything like Cinderella?”

 

Blake blinks slowly at her, giving the woman her dead-span stare. “That is what you asked for. You said to clean the house.”

 

The Huntress' mouth hung open for a few moments before she collected herself and turned back to the food she was making. “I didn't mean to go over board with it.” She mumbles, probably thinking that Blake couldn't hear her but her cat ears helped her out with that. “A simple dusting would have been enough to make me happy.” She continues to mumble. Then the Blonde turns off the stove, searching the cabinets for some plates. Blake noticed how unorganized the kitchen is and she suddenly really wanted to fix that.

 

After she had found some plates for the both of them she serves Blake some stir fry. It wasn't much but her stomach isn't one to be picky at the moment, so without Yang having to tell her to eat, Blake sits down at the table and digs in. At the back of her mind she knew that she looks like a pig scarfing down the food, but she just doesn't care.

 

The Blonde decides to sit across from her and slowly eats her own food as she watches Blake curiously. “They... Didn't feed you much?”

 

The Faunas pauses in devouring her food and looks straight into those curious lilac eyes. Something about those eyes seemed really familiar but she couldn't place it. “No.” One word. She isn't inclined to give a full explanation about those slave camps. Nor did she really want to.

 

The woman hums in understanding, taking a bite of her food. “So, What is your name?”

 

Blake's head tilts to the side, which causes the Blonde to quickly look away from her. Did she see a hint of red on the Huntress' cheeks? No, it was just her imagination. “You should know my name. They wouldn't just give you a random slave. Even if they did, they wouldn't have given me to you. I'm a very specific... Faunas.”

 

“Yeah, I know. But maybe I just want to hear you say your name. Like a real introduction.” The Blonde looks straight at her. Again, Blake feels some anger returning to her. This isn't how humans are supposed to act towards her kind. They are supposed to be degrading. She was supposed to beat her for falling asleep while she was supposed to be cleaning the house. This... This Blonde demon was doing everything wrong!

 

Blake swallows her anger, “Blake Belladonna.”

 

The Huntress smiles at her, “Yang Xiao Long.”

 

“I know.”

 

Yang's eyebrows shoot up, “You know?”

 

“I over heard one of the guards talking about you when we were leaving. I was curious on why they weren't helping escort me back to your place.” Blake shrugs.

 

That is when Yang's gaze fixes on her cat ears. “Oh.” It would seem that she completely forgot about them. What is wrong with this human?

 

Having finished with her food, Blake stands up from the table, grabbing her plate and placing it in the sink. “If you'll excuse me, I would like to finish the order you gave me this morning.”

 

Yang looks as if she wants to say something but just nods her head and continues to eat. It seems like she finally remembers exactly where their social status is at. Blake turns and walks back into the living room, bent on getting this done and then she was going to organize that damn Kitchen.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

“ _Yang!”_

 

_At the sound of her name, the Blonde opened her eyes. The sky. She can see the sky. A flash of red to her right causes the huntress to look over. She wasn't surprised to see her little sister right there beside her. What did surprise her though was the tears flowing down her cheeks, the concern in the girls silver eyes had Yang blinking again. What had happened?_

 

 _And then it hit. The numbing sensation gone as the pain radiated from her right arm all the way up to her collar bone._ 'It burns!' _She thinks as her eyes widen from the pain and she slowly lifts her left hand to hold her right but there was nothing there for her to grab, that was until Ruby grabbed onto her hand in a frantic grasp._

 

“ _Yang! It's okay! Everything is going to be okay!” The girl sobbed out, still clutching Yang's left hand._

 

“ _Rubes...” Yang whispers, “Stop crying...” she manages a weak smile which only causes Ruby to cry harder._

 

_She hears someone calling out to Ruby, The small girl turning to face where the noise is coming from, “Weiss!” She basically screams, “Get the medics over here!” Ruby turns back to Yang, “Hey, Weiss is getting the Medics and Baron is getting rid of the rest of the White Fang members that invaded. Everything is going to be alright.”_

 

_Yang tries to chuckle but it comes out as a cough and a deep breath. “That sounds like everyone.” She manages a smile, “Go team RWBY!”_

 

_Ruby manages to let out a laugh before a sob replaces it. “Go team RWBY!” She repeats after Yang._

 

_Finally Yang gives into that pull she has been feeling for awhile and lets sleep over take her, but not before she sees a flash of a Raven like color go across her vision._

* * *

Yang jolts up in bed, her breath coming heavily. She wipes her left hand down her face and takes in a deep breath to try and calm her heart rate. It's been years since she has ever had a dream about that day. It wasn't something she liked to remember. Her baby sister crying, Weiss basically screaming for medics to do something, and Baron was taking out whatever enemies were left.

 

On that day, Yang felt the most useless. She had taken a direct hit from the leader of the White Fang to protect Ruby. She didn't expect it to cut straight through her aura and – in doing so – lose her right arm. She lifts up the offending arm and look at the Atlas work that Weiss was very generous in buying her. It took Yang a few months to snap out of her depression. Even with the ice queen's offers to get her a robotic arm early on, Yang was still depressed.

 

Losing an arm would do that to you. Yang sighs and examines the arm more closely. It was a nice black color swirled with Yellow. The metal itself traveled all the way up her arm, almost to her collar bone. The attack didn't necessarily do that much damage to her, but the doctors suggested this be the best solution. It was easier to attach because the bolts had a more stable place to connect. All she had to do was consent to surgery to remove the top half of her arm. It took the heiress forever to convince the Blonde into doing such a thing. Of course, Ruby had helped with convincing her sister into it.

 

Though it wasn't the arm that bothered her the most. It was that Raven color that always came back to haunt her. That was one of the main reasons she had picked Black as the color of her arm. Everyone expected her to say Yellow or something more flashy, but Yang didn't want attention to be drawn to it. So she chose the color that she couldn't seem to get out of her mind.

 

She hears clatter from downstairs and instantly her muscles tense. Yang jumps from her bed, grabbing Ember Celcia from the side table and rushes down stairs. Another clatter says that whoever the culprit was, they were in the kitchen. She rounds the corner ready to fire her weapon when she pauses at the sight of cool, calm amber eyes staring back at her.

 

They stare at each other for a few minutes. Amber eyes locked with Lilac, before finally Yang lowers her weapon and starts to rub the back of her head with a sheepish smile on her face, “Sorry, thought there was a burglar or something.”

 

The faunas' head tilts to the side, showing just how adorable she really was, causing Yang to try and fight down a blush. “You aren't mad that I am not in my room, waiting for orders?”

 

Yang, once again, finds a frown on her face. It's been happening a lot lately. Ever since she decided to get a slave. Weiss had suggested she get one to help around the house since she was always out on hunts and barely has enough time to really keep the place up in maintenance. Of course now she was told by Ozpin to take a small break from hunts for awhile. But, that doesn't really matter at the moment. Right now, what matters is the fact that this Faunas girl really doesn't know how to be treated like a normal person. So, Yang being Yang, she answers like she would if Blake was one of her close friends, “No, you are allowed to leave the room when ever you want. This is technically your home now. The only place I would like you to stay away from it my room, unless I give you permission other wise.”

 

Yeah, Yang had learned how to talk to Blake within the past few days. Every time she didn't sound like a master, Blake would give her some sarcastic remark or something that would really catch the Blonde off guard. So, Yang had to learn how to be friendly but still hold an air of command. Other wise she would be embarrassed every time she talked to the Faunas.

 

Blake frowns at the Blonde's answer, but doesn't reply. Instead she goes back to whatever she was doing. Yang look around her kitchen to find every single dish and utensil she had out and all over the place. _'The hell?'_ Yang asks herself before turning her attention back to the Faunas girl who was currently separating the tuber-wares in groups of threes; Large, medium and small. “Um, what are you doing?”

 

“Organizing.” One word again. Can she at least try to hold a conversation?

 

“Why?”

 

Blake gives an exasperated sigh, “I noticed the first day I was here that it was really unorganized. So I decided to take it upon myself to organize it for you.” She looks up at Yang, “Especially if you want me to start cooking for you. I seriously don't want to have to spend another thirty minutes trying to find where everything is again.”

 

Yang gives her a smirk, “Oh, Kitten has claws.” Blake's hint of amusement suddenly vanishes as she goes back to that deadpan stare. Yang sighs, “I don't have anything for you right now.” Yang places her left fist on her hip and leans a bit that way as she thinks. “Of course, I do have to work in the garden today.” She mentions off hand and a smirk starts to crawl its way across her features once Blake's head snaps up at the thought of going outside.

 

Of course, by then Blake's eyes finally fell on Yang's right arm. She was so busy staring at Yang's eyes earlier that she didn't bother to really notice anything else. The Huntress knew where her eyes were staring and she was trying really hard to ignore the curiosity on her face. In her hurry to try and catch the invisible burglar, Yang had forgotten that she was wearing her normal yellow tank-top with her short-shorts, leaving her right arm on full display for anyone that could see her.

 

Blake opens her mouth – most likely to ask what had happened – but Yang interrupts her, “When it hits about noon I'll come and get you to work in the garden. You can continue with what you are doing in the mean time.” The Blonde then swiftly leaves the kitchen, dashing upstairs before the Faunas girl could really say anything.

 

Once behind her bedroom door, the Huntress lets out a shuddering breath. It was there, that look that every one would get when they get a good look at her right arm. That emotion they all try to hide. Sympathy. She was pretty sure Blake would deny it with her whole being if Yang was to ask her, but she didn't have to. Yang was so used to that look.

 

It doesn't bother her as much as it used to, but she didn't expect to see it come from a Faunas. Most of them just smirk with that knowing smile. All of them knowing who had done it to her. But Blake...

 

_'She's different.'_

 

Yang shakes her head and slides down the door to sit on the floor. A hand going up to cover one of her eyes as she tries to focus on the floor. Blake is different. She is the right hand to the leader of the White Fang. The Blonde specifically picked her because of that. She wanted to see what type of person stands by and lets someone cause such destruction and mayhem. What she didn't expect was a scared woman who hates humanity for what they have done to her kind, but actually cares a lot about every one.

 

_'Maybe it's just because I'm kind to her...'_

 

That wasn't the plan at first. She wanted, no _needed_ to make the Faunas girl feel some type of pain. To make her realize what the White Fang had her through. That all went out the window once she laid eyes on the petite form. Images of that day fills her mind.

* * *

_Yang was flirting with the guard behind the counter. She saw how he was looking at her form like she was a piece of meat and decided to play around a bit. It's been awhile since she had any fun teasing a guy with her looks. Yang presses her body up against the counter, leaning over just enough to have her breasts prop up just enough for him to get a good view. She smirks at how he has to make a visible effort to not stare at them._

 

 _That is when the back door opens with her new slave right behind a guard._ 'Only one guard?' _she thinks to herself as she studies the faunas presented to her. Yang already knew who she was, after all you don't ever get her without knowing her name – and without enough money._

 

_Blake Belladonna._

 

 

Yang shakes her head, clearing her thoughts. It isn't exactly a bad memory, but it did bring up more painful memories which she tries to suppress. The Huntress lurches forward in a smooth movement to stand back up on her feet. She walks over to her dresser and starts to pull out some clothes for her to wear today.

 

A pair of jeans and her normal yellow crop-top is what she decides to go with for the day. After messing around with her hair for little bit, she grabs her black gloves on her side table ad slide them on before grabbing her trench coat and head back downstairs.

 

_'Time to get to work.'_

 


	4. Chapter 4

Blake couldn't believe it. Here she is, standing in front of a waste land. The so called 'garden' that her master said that they would be working in, is just a punch of weeds and dead vegetables. How could someone even call this a garden? Just looking at this sad excuse makes Blake want to cry. She can even feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She lets her eyes wonder to he so-called 'master'. Yang is currently standing off to the side, looking at everything while scratching the back of her head. She might as well own a flashing light that says 'I have no idea where to even begin'.

 

The Faunas looks off to the left at the corner of the garden and walks over there. If they were going to begin getting this into shape, might as well start in the corner and work your way through. She gently gets on her hands and knees and starts to pull the weeds out from the ground. Blake knew that getting this whole garden to start looking even some what decent, was going to take a lot of time and money. She starts to make a list in her head.

 

_'She'll need to get seeds. Probably start with something simple like Tomatoes in this corner. Buy a wood rack so the vines can grow up and intertwine through it. Then maybe some peppers. Does she even like spicy food? Wait, does she even know what the hell she wants to do at all? Oh god, what if she buys the wrong type of plants to put out here. Wrong season, wrong type. Oh dear lord!'_

 

In the middle of her thinking about all the horrible possibilities that could happen, Blake had stopped pulling weeds, which earned her the attention of the blonde. Her loud footsteps pulled the faunas out of her internal worry as she locks gazes with those powerful lilac eyes. It always stunned her on how they could hold such worry and care for someone of her own stature. The way her eyebrows furrowed with worry and doubt with every action Blake made, sends shivers down her spine and she hated it. She hated the way the Huntress thought that she might break from just about anything.

 

Though she never let any of that physically show. She watches Yang approach her with no emotion on her face; Expressionless. It actually cause the Blonde to break eye contact, looking anywhere but at her face. A grin curls it's way on to Blake's face at that. The thought that she makes her uncomfortable brings great joy to herself. It's like Yang purposefully gives Blake ammunition against her. To use whenever she sees fit.

 

Finally, Yang makes it to her, standing only a few feet away, “So... I know its not pretty but, um...” Yang looks like she is contemplating something and Blake tilts her head to the side causing that blush to appear on her masters face. She loves seeing that red tint on Yang's cheek but just making this simple gesture. It's why she always does it. “What do you think we should do to make it better?”

 

Blake's ears twitch to that. She isn't used to this and she feels as if she will never get used to it, and it makes her really uncomfortable. Blake guesses it's an eye for an eye situation. The faunas makes Yang feel uncomfortable with her lack of expression and her random cute moments, while the Huntress makes Blake feel uncomfortable with her kindness.

 

She must have been staring at Yang for a while now because she was shifting her weight between her feet and looking off to the side. “I mean... I'm not too sure how to make a garden or,” She gestures around them, “Take care of it very well...” She mumbles.

 

Blake couldn't help the smile that formed on her face. This is all too priceless. “Actually, I might have a few ideas.” Blake goes back to pulling weeds from the ground – god this one doesn't want to come out – as her cat ears stay attentive and alert to any movement the Huntress makes or anything around them. “You need a wheel barrel. To be able to move large amounts of soil. Also, a rake.” That should help them get started at least.

 

Yang nods her head and kneels down to start helping pull weeds. Blake stops and looks at her. Now she was helping her servant do work? _'Stop trying to be nice.'_

 

“What?”

 

Blake eyes widen as she stares at the weed that she is currently trying to pull out of the ground. She did not mean to say that out loud. Deciding that it probably won't be worth answering her question, she continues to just pull weeds out of the ground. That doesn't stop Yang from pressing the issue though.

 

“You think I'm trying to be nice?”

 

Her ears twitch. This is definitely not going to be good.

 

Yang abruptly stands, her aura manifesting as her anger just rolls off of her. Did that one line really upset her so much? “I'm being nice because that is what a person is supposed to do to another person!” The Huntress grabs Blake by her collar, jerking her to her feet so Blake can get a good look into those red eyes. She has never seen them red before and it scared her. “Why do you have to be so difficult? I literally get you away from a horrible place and treat you a bit better and you constantly have this act that I am the worst person on this planet!”

 

“You attacked me and my brothers!” Blake yells back. “Do you honestly expect me to just let my guard down after a few kind words and gestures?”

 

That makes Yang calm down, her red eyes turning back to those soft lilac ones. “I- It was- I couldn't-” She stutters, trying to think of something to say to defend what she had done during the war.

 

“I'm not blind! Nor am I stupid!” Blake spats. “I also have a pretty good idea on why you wanted me, specifically, to be your slave.”

 

Yang let's her go, taking a few steps back. A feeling of victory is slowly rising within Blake and she doesn't back down from her accusations. “I'm just a way to make you feel better about what you did during the war! Everyone knew about the fire huntress that would plow right through our ranks! You burned more Faunas alive than I killed humans!” She had to do some research for this. Since Yang mistakenly gave her free reign around the house, she made old newspaper clippings of her new master. It would seem the huntress kept a lot from the war.

 

Blake was about to continue her verbal assault until she felt a fist connect straight with her right eye. She fell backwards onto the ground, blinking the stars out of her eyes. Yang came into view, worry plastered on her face as she kneels over Blake. All Blake could do is stare up at her with wide, surprised eyes. She definitely wasn't expecting this.

 

“Oh god! I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me!” Yang exclaims as she holds Blake's head still to get a good look at her eye. The Faunas still couldn't move. She was still trying to comprehend exactly what had happened.

 

Blake knew that she shouldn't be this surprised at being hit. After all, she has gone through a lot worse, but something abut Yang hitting her made her feel this way. Did she get used to Yang being nice? All those times she knew that the huntress should punish her in some way and didn't; Did she get used to that? The Faunas honestly thought that Yang would just yell back at her, not hit her. A nice throbbing pain started from her eye and straight through her head. Wow, did she have a headache right now.

 

“I'm okay.” Blake finally says, her hand coming up to place her palm on hr forehead. “I'm alright.” She repeats as she slowly sits up; With some help from Yang, of course.

 

Yang's face relaxes in relief. She then looks around and sighs, “We can come back out here tomorrow.” She helps Blake stand before walking back into the house herself. Blake frowns at not having the support to make it to the house, but she figured that it was natural, after all, this wasn't the first time she had to walk back to her room with an injury to the head.

 

She starts her long trudge back to the house and to her room. Man was her head killing her.

* * *

_He looks back at her from the edge of the cliff that looks out over the Forever Fall Forest. They hadn't been around her for very long, only a few weeks, and yet they had already found the perfect advantage sight. Everything was clear for them to see and with their enhanced sight, nothing would be able to move from that direction without any of them knowing._

 

_A sly smile begins to form on her lips until he starts to speek._

 

“ _It's a beautiful sight, right?”_

 

_Again, she finds herself looking out over the horizon. She couldn't see what he was seeing. All she saw was all the different battles that would be happening here. Nothing seemed peaceful to her anymore. Nothing but a book. But the way that she sees him looking out over the forest, the way his eyes are filled with peace, it makes her want to connect to that part of him. To understand why he can still think of this world as a peaceful place._

 

“ _Adam-” She began but was cut off by him._

 

“ _I never wanted this war to happen, Blake.” He stated, “I wanted to end this with non-violent terms, but the humans, they just kept degrading us, treating us like we are nothing but animals!” His voice steadily got louder as he continued, “I wanted everything to stay peaceful, to be equal with them. But they just lowered us more and more as time went on!” He turned back around to look her in the eyes. Fury and sadness were so obvious there that even she didn't know what to do, “Now this calm peaceful place is going to be ruined by our war. Faunas against Humans. A lot of places like this are going to get destroyed and it makes me sad to admit that I will not regret destroying this peace for our cause, no matter what the out come will be. Because win or lose, there will always be a Faunas out there that will fight for freedom!” He yelled the last part, and a course of yells echoed behind them._

 

_Blake turned around to see her White Fang Brethren had gathered behind them, underneath the trees. Adam had given them all a speech, one that had risen the morale in the ranks. She had noticed when they first arrived, all the looks of doubt and fear. It was always safer to just accept the mistreatment and continue on with their lives, but Adam knew how to make everyone want to fight for what was right. To fight for the rights of Faunas. To be acknowledged as the humans equals instead of a species below them. This was the beginning of their war. The beginning of their victory for a better world for Faunas. As long as Adam was here to guide them, they would not lose._

 

_He holds out a hand to Blake and she gently takes it, allowing him to slowly pull her up beside him as they look out over the beautiful peaceful land that was about to get destroyed by their beliefs. She tightened her grip in Adam's hand and he responded by giving her a squeeze. That was all the reassurance she ever needed from him. To know that he was always going to be by her side. Never to leave her alone._

 

_Blake looks over at him, tugging on his hand, earning his gaze. She reached up to cup the side of his face with her free hand before leaning in and planting a kiss on his lips. A vow that she was never going to leave him. That she was going to stand by his side no matter what. Even if things got rough. They were going to get through this together, like they always had._

* * *

Blake Blinks at herself in the small mirror in her room. Her right eye was already swelling shut and a dark bruise is already forming. The pain lacing through her head is still very much present and she did not want to go and ask her master for some pain killers. She would rather die than see Yang right now. Of course, she knew that she has to go and make dinner soon.

 

She frowns. The memory of the first day of the war still very present in her mind. Blake didn't know what had made her think of that day. Maybe it was because he wasn't there to take the blow for her like he normally was. Always, Adam would jump in front of the enemy for her, blocking the attacks so she could swiftly defeat them from a safer distance with Gambol Shroud.

 

_'Gambol Shroud...'_ Instinctively her hand reach up behind her head to try and grab the hilt of her old weapon, but – like always – nothing was there for her to grab.

 

The Faunas let's out a sigh of frustration, tenderly touching around her eye to see if there was anymore damage besides the bruising and the swelling. Satisfied with what little knowledge she knows about this, she walks over to her small bed and sits down. Blake doesn't know why she had to continue throwing out accusations like that. Yeah, it was painfully obvious that Yang had served in the war. All Huntress' and Huntsmen participated in the war eventually. That's actually why the Faunas had lost the war.

 

Adam wasn't prepared for them to send their elite forces out, thinking that they were only there to fight grim and protect humanity – that includes Faunas – from the forces of darkness. So, naturally, it had surprised him to see them fighting with the humans. Blake frowns. That was when Adam started to change. He no longer showed any mercy, killing humans without any remorse. When they would take over a village, there would be no live humans left there.

 

Her hands start to tremble. So many innocent lives she had taken back then for the man she loved. At the time, it all made sense. That was until she realized that none of her brethren were being killed by the humans when they were being taken by them. No, they were just being forced into slavery. Slap a collar on an animal, call it yours and they do what they tell you to do, right? She fills her anger start to boil up again. As much as she and her own kind did wrong, the humans are doing wrong now. Many Faunas slaves get tortured to death, beat to death, even just sentenced to death for forgetting to do something that their master wanted them to do. This life is worse than just killing them off.

 

Blake herself has many scars on her back, arms, legs, stomach, anywhere where there is skin. They are splatter across her skin, not in any type of pattern or form. Many of them come from whippings. She never did learn how to hold her tongue. Again she reaches up to gently touch her right eye, evidence that she still hasn't learned anything.

 

She then clutches at her left arm, fingers running across a fine patch of scar tissue. This one she had gotten from a particularly cruel master. Blake's eyes dilate as she remembers.

* * *

_The man forces her arm across the animal skinning table. Her new master was a hide shearer. He would go out, hunt animals, bring them back to his workshop and skin their hides right off of them and sell them for a high price. It was good business. Even better business if you could make the skin soft and barely noticeable._

 

_He picks up a big knife and glares at Blake, “I teach you not to talk back to me.” He seethes._

 

_She watches as he lowers the knife down to the top of her forearm – The thought that he decided to do it there instead of her underarm was a brief sense of relief – the edge digging into her skin. She lets out a soft whimper. Then the real pain and agony began. She lets out a scream as she feels him drag the sharp blade down her skin an inch at a type, making her suffer as much as possible._

 

_It felt like ages when he finally pulled away, a flap of her skin in his hand. Blood pulling over her arm. Her eyes are half closed from exhaustion and pain. Sweat glistening her skin. She felt the bile rise up from her stomach before she falls to the floor, losing all of what little food he fed her that day._

 

_He tsks, “Make sure you clean that up.” He throws her flap of skin down on the floor next to her and walks out of the room._

 

_Blake collapses onto the floor, sure that she was going to bleed to death. They had locked her aura shortly after capturing her so there was no way for her to heal this wound fast. Her master certainly wouldn't care if she just laid here a die. It sounded like a good idea to her. The pain in her arm was getting to be a bit too much since the adrenaline was now fading._

 

_Fuck, she hated humans._

* * *

Suddenly, she really missed being out in the garden. Despite how barren it was. Blake really wants to make it look beautiful. To create something beautiful in this ugly world. She wants to show Adam that there is still beautiful things out here. Everything is going to be alright.

 

A knock on her door.

 

Blake doesn't even bother answering and it doesn't seem that the person behind the door was going to wait for an answer. Yang walks into the room with a bag of ice. Blake watches her intently as the Blonde makes her way over to the faunas. She reaches out and Blake instinctively flinches away. Yang looks at her with a hurt expression. Shit! She did not mean to show that she now feared the Huntress. The last thing Blake wanted was for Yang to know that she has power of her now. That one powerful hit was enough to make Blake be more cautious around Yang. At least for a little while that is.

 

“I'm sorry.” Yang mumbles, and hands the ice over to Blake. “Put that on your eye, I'll call a doctor to look at it to make sure that I didn't break anything.”

 

Blake blinks her one eye up at the Huntress. She was sorry? She slowly breaks out into a giggle. God, she does not understand this human. After a small giggling fit, which leaves Yang completely confused, Blake clears her throat and looks the Blonde in the eyes. Amber and Lilac lock together and she smiles at her, “You have nothing to apologize for, master. I was being rude. I'm sorry for that.”

 

Yang cringes at being called master. Blake wonders if she thinks that she is messing with her now. But before she could really figure out what the huntress is thinking, Yang turns around and exits the room, leaving Blake alone.

 

A thought enters Blake's mind. She forgot to ask if she will be able to continue to work in the garden.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Yang is sitting down at her desk inside her room. It's now ten o'clock at night and she fixing up Ember Celica. The events of today playing on rewind in her mind. She let her anger get the best of her and harm Blake. She frowns and starts to rub really hard at this one spot on her left gauntlet. She didn't mean to harm her, she just wouldn't stop talking about the war. Making it seem like the humans were in the wrong. Yeah, she did some bad things to the Faunas, but the murdered families!

 

She slams her gauntlet back on the desk and leans back in her chair, letting out a sigh. If she couldn't even harm Blake without feeling sorry, why did she specifically ask for her to be her slave? All those thoughts of revenge and she can't even lay a finger on her. The Faunas is completely different than what she had heard.

 

Her scroll starts going off, illuminating the darkness even more than her side lamp. Yang picks it up and sees it's a hunt. But not for grimm. Someone's slave had gotten lose and now they are requesting the aid of huntsmen and huntress' to find them. Yang sets her phone back down, but not before declining the hunt. She never participated in those types of things.

 

When she had joined the war, it was because the White Fang had infiltrated her school, attacked her team, and attacked her friends. They were forced into the war by the White Fang. It wasn't until a little later that she had found out it was on orders of the leader of the Faunas to get rid of the huntsmen and huntress' before they could join the war.

 

There was talk about them joining the war before hand, but no one wanted a part of it. It wasn't up to them to solve world war problems. They were the defenders of the world against the Grimm. Not against other people. All the war was accomplishing was more death and blood than was necessary. She remembers specifically Ozpin saying that none of them were going to join the war and that he hoped that they could solve this through peaceful means. Of course that changed the night the White Fang launched an attack on Vale.

 

Still, Yang couldn't bring herself to hunt down the Faunas like they were animals. Most Huntsmen can because they all lost someone in the war. Revenge always sounds so sweet, but then it just isn't enough once you realize that you'll never get them back no matter what you do.

 

Maybe that is why she can't bring herself to harm Blake. Yang lays her head down on the desk and her eyebrows furrow as she confuses herself with her train of thought. Is that really the reason why she can't harm the Faunas slave? Because her, herself, realized that it wouldn't change a damn thing. It's not like what happened to her really ruined her life. She is still a huntress. Still loved by many people and her strength is doubled in her right arm.

 

In the end, wouldn't that mean she won? No. It's not the same. She misses the feel of having a live limb there. She can't feel anything with her metal one. Even though Weiss said that there is technology out there to make her nerves and senses actually work in her arm. Something about connecting it to the brain or other. She wasn't really paying much attention to the Heiress as she was explaining it all to Yang.

 

Again her thoughts drift back to Blake. If it wasn't that, then what was the reason that she didn't want to harm her? Nothing makes sense anymore. Sighing, Yang reaches down to her desk cupboard and pulls out a bottle of whiskey with a shot glass. She pours herself some and downs the glass, hissing as the alcohol burns her throat a little as it flows down to her stomach. Fuck did that feel good. Yang pours herself another shot.

 

Yang tries to stay away from hard liquor, but ever since Baron died she hasn't been very successful in that. It's been a few years, but even now she still blames the Faunas. That's right. That's why she should be able to hit Blake, because it was her kind that killed Baron. He should be a live right now, but he wanted to help that Faunas child.

 

Then again, Yang also went to help the Faunas Child. Neither one knew that it was a trap.

* * *

“ _Come on out. It's alright. We aren't going to hurt you.” Baron coaxes to the child underneath the stairs of an abandoned house._

 

_It was just Yang and Baron out scouting a village that the White Fang had just recently pillaged in the quest to extinguish all the humans around the immediate area. They had both heard a noise from over in this house, with a quick glance towards each other, Yang activated Ember Celica while Baron took Teal Tide from his back and proceeded to stand in an offensive battle position. It has been a couple years since the attack that happened at Beacon. Neither one was going to let their guard down, not even if it was nothing. Too many years in this war made them overly cautious. Too many close calls for comfort._

 

_But here they were, trying to coax a little faunas girl out from under the stairs. Sure, Baron and Yang could have reached in and grabbed her, forcing her out from her hiding spot, but it was painfully obvious to the both of them that it would cause more harm towards the girl than just trying to smooth talk her out. At first, Yang had tried to talk her out, but the girl responded negatively towards her voice so Baron tried. Apparently a rough male voice was better on the child._

 

“ _It's alright. We only want to help.” Baron continued to talk to her._

 

_Yang was currently standing by the front window, pulling back the covers just enough to survey the surrounding area. It was still a hot zone, they were only supposed to look around and then leave. The White Fang was more than likely still around the area, waiting for humans to come home from a trip or something, but, luckily the Atlas army managed to get a warning out to the surrounding villages. If there was any humans left a live that live in this town, they would know not to show up by now._

 

_A dark figure flashed by the corner of her eye and she quickly retreated from the window. They knew that they were in the house, she couldn't deny that. She quickly made her way back to Baron, placing her metal hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He glances at her breiefly before turning his attention back to the girl._

 

“ _Baron, we have to go. Now.” Yang said, her voice was filled with urgency._

 

“ _We can't just leave her.” He kept eye contact with the Faunas child. “We just can't.”_

 

_Yang nodded her head in agreement, “Of course. Just grab her and let's go.”_

 

_But as he went to grab hold of the girl, she managed to fit right between the opening of the two stair steps and ran for the front door._ 'Just like a cat.' _Yang remembered. Baron didn't even hesitate, he ran after the girl, Yang called out for him but just as he opened the front door to follow her, there was a sickening sound of something stabbing threw flesh and bone. A few jerks that caused Baron's body to lurch forward and a blade sticks through the middle of his back._

 

_His aura didn't even have time to help block the attack, it was so unexpected. Yang had let out a scream and her semblance explodes around the whole room. That was the last thing she remembered from then._

* * *

Yang downs another shot of whiskey. She really hates it when memories pop up from out of no where, causing emotion pain that she has been trying to stifle for the longest time. She hasn't really forgiven herself for allowing him to go after that child, after all, they both should have known that something was wrong by how she wouldn't respond or even take a step towards them.

 

The Huntress puts her whiskey back up, standing up she stretches her limbs and starts to take off her clothing to go to bed. Life is so simple now. Nothing like back then. As much as she wanted to call the Faunas monsters and murderers for everything that they have done, she just couldn't bring herself to think that way.

 

She walks into the bathroom connected to her room, looking into the mirror, Yang just stares at herself. This is what has become of the infamous Dragon of Vale. Living in a house outside of a small town, isolating herself from other people and taking on hunts that only involve the Grimm so she can protect the people in the town. She frowns, when did she let her life get so boring? She remembers when she wanted nothing but adventure and excitement. To travel Remnant, engage in dangerous and thrilling battles, to track down her birth mother and to take care of Ruby.

 

Ruby. Her younger sister. A faint hint of a smile makes its way onto her lips. Ruby is currently engaged with the Heiress of the Schnee company, Weiss Schnee. Yang couldn't be more proud of the path her baby sister has taken after everything. She found her happiness and continues to protect innocents from the darkness like she always planned to do.

 

_'And here I am. Living in the past and just barely getting by with my sanity.'_ Yang thinks to herself. The disappointment reflected at herself. The town that she lives at, is the town that got rebuilt after the war. This house she lives in, is the exact house Baron had died in. Yeah, it needed a lot of work when she first got it because of all the burn marks and blood marks, all over the place, but she managed to fix it up.

 

Now she brought in a Faunas. She knew that Blake wasn't apart of that ambush – mostly because she killed them all right after they killed Baron – but she felt like she was betraying him, and at the same time, ever since Blake has been here, Yang has felt more and more like her old self again. Wanting to prove that she a strong and noble Huntress. Trying every corner to get the Faunas woman to respond positively to her.

 

Instead it always gets negative responses. Almost like Blake wants her to be an abusive master. Yang may have done her research on Blake, but she didn't dig far into the different masters that she has had. She really didn't want to know what the Faunas has been through since the war ended. She wanted to keep the illusion that the faunas are bad and need to be watched over, that humans are doing nothing wrong, but the scars she sees on Blake always tells her different stories and she hates it.

 

She turns the faucet on splashes water on her face, trying to clear her mind. Yang has a Grimm hunt tomorrow, early in the morning and she needs to go to bed, but her current train of thoughts has her staying up. Deciding that it would be pointless to even try to sleep, Yang leaves her bathroom, walks through her bedroom and out the door. She descends the stairs to her living room and sits down on the couch. Yang already knew that Blake probably heard her walking all over her room, she wouldn't be surprise if the Faunas comes out here to see what she is up to.

 

It only took a few minutes for Yang to hear the creak of Blake's bedroom door open. She leans back against the couch and closes her eyes, giving the Faunas a few more minutes before she started talking allowed into the 'empty' room, “You know, I really hate this place.” Yang says, not caring if Blake is really there listening to her or not, “I just can't seem to let it go.” She gives a soft chuckle, “That's probably why the Ice Queen pretty much ordered me to get someone to help me out. I pretty much rebuilt this whole house after the war.” She gestures all around her without opening her eyes. Yang let out a sigh, “But it isn't going to fix what happened...”

 

The floor boards creek right next to her, causing her to look up right into those glowing Amber eyes. There is a hint of curiosity in them as well as the lingering anger from earlier today. Yang couldn't help the small smile that formed upon her lips while looking at the Faunas right now. The Huntress motions for Blake to sit next to her, and she watches her every movement as the Faunas complies to the gesture.

 

“This house holds so much death, destruction and grief.” Yang says.

 

“How?”

 

The Blonde blinks at the question and stares at the Raven Haired girl. She couldn't believe that the Faunas didn't know about this house. It was such a big turning point in the war, even if it was because Yang stopped holding back. But that look of curiosity and the want to understand what the Huntress meant, Did Blake even participate in any of the battles? Now that Yang thinks about it, she couldn't really re call seeing her except for the night she lost her arm.

 

Yang shakes her head and stares at the floor. “This is the house where Baron and I were trying to save a small Faunas child.”

 

That made Blake stiffen. Maybe she did know about this after all, just needed a small reminder.

 

A small sad smile makes it's way across Yang's lips, “It is also the same house where I realized that during the war, no Faunas could be completely trusted. Not even a kid.”

 

“What... Happened?” Blake whispers, though from the tone of her voice now Yang was sure that the Faunas knew what happened now.

 

“It was a trap, an ambush. They killed Baron.” Yang pauses before she looks up and directly into Blake's eyes. She can feel her own eyes changing to red as the feelings of grief and anger course through her body. Her limbs tremble with the overwhelming feelings and she grips her hands into fists to try and calm the storm. “So... I killed them... Every last one of them... Even the child...” She says through clenched teeth.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Blake is standing in front of the stove, making breakfast for her master. Memories from the Huntress' confession of two days ago playing through the front of her mind. Yang killed her own kind. _Murdered_ a Faunas child. How could she be making breakfast for such a person!?

 

' _Because they killed someone she loved first.'_

 

The faunas shakes her head, flipping the egg over, she runs a hand through her silky hair. The Huntress killed a _child._ Nothing should make that okay, nothing.

 

_'They tried to save the child first.'_

 

She slams a fist onto the counter. She can't seem to understand the emotions playing through her. The Faunas wants nothing more than to be angry at her master for telling her such a story, but at the same time, she can't help but feel this deep emotion of... mistrust for her brethren. Blake did know about this town, this accursed house. She didn't know that this was the exact one, but she had heard from a few of the survivors about the fire demon, the one who slayed everyone in their path out of pure anger and rage.

 

At the time, it seemed like a little thing to her. Blake was too focused on her side of the war to worry about Adam's side of the war. Because there was so much to worry about and to keep going, Adam and her decided that it would be best for them to split what needed to be done during the war in between each other. Blake didn't really care much for the blood spill; to use force to gain what they wanted. She knew that it was a necessity now, but she still wanted it to be more of a peaceful way to end things. Adam had let her handle treaties and negotiations.

 

_'Not that they did any good.'_

 

Blake sighs and gets the table ready for Yang. She didn't set up a place for herself for she did not want to dine with the monster. She gives herself a small smile. Funny how Faunas and Humans view each other the same way: As monsters. The world will never change.

 

After getting the table set up, the Faunas quietly makes her way up the stairs to her masters room. She hasn't been up here yet, her heart starts to hammer in excitement and anticipation. Before she can even knock on the door, it swings open to reveal a red cloaked figure standing there. Silver eyes bore into her with curiosity and Blake blinks a few times to focus in on more details of the mysterious figure.

 

The first thing she notices is how The blonde huntress is standing behind the red cloaked figure with a wide grin on her face. The second thing she notices is how close her fist is to actually hitting the red cloaked figure in the face. The third thing she notices, That the Red Cloaked figure is a woman.

 

Blake retracts her hand with super speed and bows her head, ashamed about what she was about to do. God, she was so close to hitting a friend of her masters. “I'm sorry!” She sputters out quickly, “I came up here to tell my master that breakfast is ready. If I had known that she had company I would have made more than I did.”

 

The silver eyed woman smiles brightly at her, “No worries! I was just about to leave. Have to get back to Weiss after all. Who else is going to keep her from over working herself?” She brushes past Blake and down the stairs.

 

Yang walks up, taking the woman's spot in the door way. “Ruby, always on the move.”

 

Blake tilts her head to the side – always needing to act like a curious cat, “If it is not too out of line, may I ask who Ruby is?”

 

The Huntress' grins widens at the question, “That's the leader to team RWBY!” She pumps her arm, “She is also my kickass baby sister!” Yang starts to head down the stairs, Blake following close behind, “So what are we having for breakfast?”

 

“It'll only be you today.” Blake responds, causing Yang to stop in her tracks and look back at the Faunas, but Blake continues to talk like the Blonde's stare is nothing, “I'll be working around the house this morning. I'll be getting a late breakfast. Enjoy the food.” She then walks around the Huntress trying to ignore the sad look that Yang is giving her.

 

At least for today, she refuses to dine with a murderer.

 

_'Yet, you dined with Adam.'_

 

Blake stops at the bottom of the stairs, having no idea where that thought came from. Adam wasn't a murderer to her. Was he? A movement to her left catches her eye and she quickly steps back up before she is tackled by Ruby.

 

Ruby slams into the wall, groaning in pain before snapping back up at looking at Blake. “Sorry! I thought you were Yang.” She rubs the back of her head. “I forgot the ring in her room.”

 

“Ring?”

 

Yang appears next to Blake offering a white jewelry box towards her sister, “Hey, Sis, Why don't you join us for breakfast anyways.” Yang looks at Blake pointedly, Blake avoiding eye contact, “I'm sure Blake would be more than willing to make more food for _all_ of us.”

 

Ruby shrugs, completely oblivious to the tension between the two in front of her, “I guess I can stay. Still need to practice my lines and all.”

 

Blake's eyes stop wondering and look at the girl, “What lines?”

 

“I'm going to be proposing to Weiss.” Ruby gives her a huge grin, light literally radiating off of her very being.

 

“Weiss?”

 

“Weiss Schnee.” Yang says in a deadpan voice.

 

Blake freezes up to the name, staring straight ahead at nothing. Weiss Schnee. _Weiss Schnee_. What other Weiss was there? Hell, she even know that Weiss Schnee was the W in team RWBY, yet for some reason she let herself cloud over the fact that Yang wasn't involved with someone like that. Damn, she felt so stupid. First the fact that Yang is a Huntress that fought in the war, now the fact that she is also in the same team as a Schnee. Blake let herself ignore all of that just because she let a few kind deeds get to her.

 

She is snapped out of her thoughts when Ruby and Yang head towards the kitchen. Yang shoots her another look, literally screaming, _'We need to talk.'_

 

The Faunas follows after them. Oh, they are going to talk alright. Especially if she is going to have to attend a wedding of a _Schnee._

* * *

_Blake walked into the tent, stripping her clothing off. A deep clear of a throat comes from her left side, choosing to ignore it to continue stripping. After all she already knew it was Adam and her cat ears didn't pick up anyone else in the room._

 

“ _You never come into the tent and start stripping. Not unless something made you angry and you want to change into your work out clothes.” Adam said, walking up behind her just as she slipped off her bra. He lightly trails his hands down her back and back up to her shoulders before sliding them around upfront and lightly wrapping his arms around her neck. “You look so beautiful.” He whispers into her ear. A shiver trailed down her back._

 

“ _Schnee.” She said. His hands trail over her breasts down her toned stomach to her hips, pulling her back into him, “They were there, ready to counter everything I said. I lost many supporters for us today because they decided to lie about what is actually happening in this war. Our reasons for fighting. Power.” She scoffs as she reached up behind her, placed her hand on the back of his head and tilted her head to the side to give him free access to her neck, which he took complete advantage of._

 

_Slowly he placed kisses up and down the side of her neck, licking and nipping. “Mm. Did you try to fight and tell them that we are fighting for our rights?” He asked, his voice low and husky. His hips grind into her and she gasps._

 

“ _Of course.” She replied breathlessly. Blake turns around in his arms, latching her arms around his neck and pressed her body as close as she could possibly get to his. Her lips are just inches from his, “But after Mr. Schnee started talking no one would listen to a_ Faunas. _” She breathed against his lips._

 

_Adam closed the distance between them, kissing her roughly, plunging his tongue into her mouth electing a throaty moan from her. Blake's fingers ran through his hair and gripped tightly, pulling him even closer – if that was even possible. She pulled back, nibbling on his lower lip, her hand traveled down his chest and ripped open his shirt so her hands could travel across his chest and ripped abdomen._

 

_God, how he used to know what made her so feisty, when to make the move so they could enjoy themselves to their fullest._

 

_Apparently, Adam had figured that going to the makeshift bed was too much, so he moved them to the planning table – quickly knocking everything off of it – and setting Blake on it. He moved in between her legs and continued to kiss her._

 

_Adam was quick to remove her pants and she was just as quick to zip open his. “What's making you so hot today?” Blake husked out, just as Adam positioned him at her entrance._

 

_He leans forward, “Guess we both have some problems with the Schnee's today and you just look so beautiful and hot today.” He slowly started to slid the head of his dick into her folds. She moaned loudly, tipping her head back in ecstasy. “Jesus, Blake, you are perfect.” Adam growled out and thrust fast and hard up into her._

* * *

“Blake?”

 

The woman whose name that is blinks, the smell of burning food instantly registers causing her to focus in on the eggs that she is making. Her golden amber eye widen and she quickly turns off the stove. Ruby and Yang stare at her, eyebrows raised in curiosity. A deep red blush creeps it's way up her face. Did she seriously just recall that memory at the mention of the Schnees'?

 

“Sorry, I... I got distracted...” Blake says. She scurries around the kitchen to clean up her mess.

 

Yang reaches out and grabs a hold of the Faunas' shoulders forcing her to stand still. “It's okay. Look, just go to your room. I'll make breakfast. I'll come get you with-in the hour.”

 

Blake stares into those Lilac globes. The concern that is trying to reach out to her almost breathtaking. Before she could let it really affect her, she nods her head and quickly leaves the kitchen. Once the door to her room shuts close behind her she falls against it and slides to the floor. She stares at her hands, “I can't believe I let myself recall that...” She whispers.

 

Ever since Adam died, Blake hasn't thought of those memories. Anything that was intimate between the both of them she had shut out. After all, it would bring back the night she lost everything.

 

Except this time.

 

This time she was freed from the darkness.

 

“What is wrong with me?”

 


	7. Chapter 7

Yang is more than a little a bit confused with the recent events that has been happening for the past few weeks. Blake has – more or less – completely stopped her teasing and her sarcastic comments since that day that Ruby had breakfast with them. The Faunas doesn't ever leave her room unless Yang gives her something to do. But even then, Blake won't really hold a conversation with the Huntress anymore and as soon as she is done with what she has to do, she goes straight back to that room to await for Yang to think of something else to get her out of the room.

 

Which is why today, Yang is going to be taking her out into the town.

 

She is in dire need of supplies and she does have plans to make that garden into something worth looking at. The Huntress never did forget Blake's complete fascination on making it the best garden ever. Yang watched Blake's face as different emotions played across her face with – what she hopes – is a mental list on what to get to create the perfect garden.

 

So why was she currently just standing outside the door to Blake's room? Well, because she wasn't exactly sure how to ask – or command – the Faunas to join her. She guesses that she could just tell her to follow and pat her leg as if Blake was a dog... But she doesn't see that going over well (especially since the Faunas is a cat).

 

Yang takes a deep breath and raises her hand. Just before she knocks she hears Blake call out through the door, “Are you just going to stand there all day?” The Blonde can't help the grin that spreads across her face. Maybe the Kitty is back to her normal state again.

 

The Huntress opens the door and takes a step in. Looking around she finds Blake staring at her reflection in the mirror before she turns towards Yang. “We are going out into town.” Yang states. Damn, she was horrible at this. Even after all this time she can't seem to find the right tone of voice to speak towards Blake without sounding completely like a bitch.

 

Blake raises one eyebrow at the statement and her Amber eyes dance with mischief. Yeah, she was totally back to her normal self. “Are we now? Why the random need to take me with you?”

 

Yang leans back against the to the left of the open doorway, “I need to get some things and I won't be able to carry it all back by myself.”

 

The Faunas' eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Carry? Don't you have a vehicle?”

 

The Huntress smirks, “Yes, but the town is close enough for a nice walk. Come on, it'll be good to get some exercise. Come some muscle on those bones you call legs.”

 

Blake frowns and looks down at her legs. Yang has to admit that there is muscle all over her body, The Faunas being in great shape because all of the manual labor she has probably had to do for years, but Yang couldn't help but make fun of the lack of definition to those muscles. She totally plans on changing that. Today being just the beginning of the many days they will be walking to town and walking back. Actually, she thinks they will do this every day she doesn't have to go on a hunt. Which is rare but frequent enough to make sure Blake gets used to it.

 

Sighing, Blake stands up and walks towards Yang, stopping only a few feet away from the Blonde. “Are we going now?”

 

Yang nods her head and exits the room, Blake close behind her. “On the way towards town you don't have to worry about me showing that you are mine. Not many people walk along the road that leads to my house.” She glances back at the Raven-haired girl, who is nodding in understanding. She opens the door and gestures Blake in front of her. “Once we are in town though, you'll have to stick close to me. I don't need someone to make up some stupid ass excuse to get you in trouble.” Yang frowns, “Not even I can save you from the enforcers.”

 

Blake looks back at Yang in surprise. The Huntress actually finding it really hard to look in those eyes filled with fear, “Is it too late to say that I don't really want to go now?” Blake says.

 

She actually started to think about that. Maybe it would be better to just take Bumblebee and go herself, if it meant that Blake won't get wrongly accused for anything stupid. The last thing Yang wants is to stand off to the side, completely helpless to stop anything they may deem worthy enough to punish the Faunas for her misdeed. But she really wanted Blake to come along as well. Why was this so hard to choose?

 

“I'll hold onto you from the back of your neck.” Yang says.

 

She watches as the Faunas stops walking and turns back towards her. Those Amber eyes searching her own Lilac eyes. “If anything does happen, you'll be just as responsible.” Blake states.

 

Yeah, she knew that. She also knows that they wouldn't bother to do anything too bad to her because she has does a lot for this town. Maybe she can get them a pass? Maybe. Or maybe nothing bad will happen at all and they are both completely over thinking things.

 

It is Yang's turn to let out a sigh and gesture towards the path they are taking, “Let's just get everything we need and then leave.” She says sullenly. The Huntress was secretly hoping that they could actually spend some quality time together there. Possibly learn about what Blake likes. Even if she already knew everything about her slave, she doesn't know the little things. Things you can only find out by spending time with them.

 

She watches as Blake turns and starts to walk the way she gestured towards. A frown forming on her lips. Those ratty old clothes don't seem to be fitting the Faunas any more. Becoming too small for her body. The food and nutrition she was giving Blake obviously showing better now that it's been about a month.

 

Wow, a month with Blake. Something Yang thought wasn't going to happen. The Huntress shakes her head and starts to follow the Faunas. She hasn't done anything she said she was going to do to Blake. No, instead she was doing everything the opposite of what she said she was going to do. Taking care of the Faunas, learning about her, _caring_ about her. God, how things changed since the day she first got her.

 

The Blonde absentmindedly grips onto her right arm. “How did that happen?”

 

The question startling the Blonde out of her thoughts as she focuses back on the girl in front of her. Blake glances over her shoulder at the Huntress before looking forward again. Yang's brows furrow, “You don't know how this happened?” The question coming out more harsh than she intended, the twitching of Blake's ears clearly telling her that.

 

“No.” Blake answers with no emotion behind it.

 

Yang's grip tightens even more before her eyes glaze over with the memory. It only took her a few minutes to reply, “Adam.” She says through clench teeth.

 

She knew that would cause the Faunas to pause in her walk, but to stop completely? That was something she wasn't expecting. Yang stops walking also and stares at Blake, watching as she slowly turns around to stare at Yang. The look at utter disbelief present on her face.

 

“What?”

 

“Adam.” Yang repeats, “The leader of the White Fang.” She takes a step towards the girl, “Him and about forty other White Fang members attacked Beacon.” Her face is calm, showing no expression to the Raven-haired girl as she studies the looks the cross her face; disbelief, pain, sorrow, and regret. “Us Huntsmen and Huntresses were more than willing to stay out of the war. What we wanted was peace and to be able to protect everyone from the real threat out there. But then he leads a small army to come and attack us.” She shakes her head, her eyes closing as she takes a deep breath. She can already feel the tremors of her anger rising. “My team and I... We were in the middle of the fight. First years for crying out loud and we just happened to be facing off against him.” She let's out a small laugh, “I was such a fool...”

 

She stops then. She really didn't want to go into all the details at the moment. Especially with Blake right now. But she for some reason she couldn't help herself from taking another step forward, the anger form the memory bubbling to the surface, “How?” She asks quietly, but the tone of her voice must have sounded terrible if it caused Blake to take a step back. Yang looks directly into the Amber eyes, knowing full well that her eyes are red, “How do you not know about that!?” She points a finger at her, taking an aggressive step forward – again causing Blake to step back, “You were his right hand! You should have known about it!” Yang's hands ball into fists, “After that,” Her voicing growing quiet as she tries to rein in her anger, “Not a single human was standing on the side of the Faunas.”

 

Yang takes a deep breath and releases it slowly, “The last day you made an appearance on trying to settle this war peacefully, you asked how come no one was standing with you anymore.” Yang opens her eyes back up, them being their normal lilac colors again, “It's because Adam ruined that for you. He wanted blood shed and war.”

 

She watches as Blake digests that information. Finally something from the other side. Yang wasn't expecting Blake to accept it, so she wasn't surprised to see the Faunas shaking her head in defiance. “Adam wouldn't do that. He was trying to fight for the rights for Faunas, not try to take over everything!” Blake yells.

 

Yang just scoffs and crosses her arms, “Blind. Even now.” She then waves her hand forward towards the town. “Let's go, we can argue about this later if you want.” Blake huffs, her anger still obviously there, but does what Yang says. Yeah, this totally started out the way she wanted it to.

* * *

The two walked in silence all the way to the town, but the moment they got there, Yang did exactly what she said she would. She grabbed a hold of Blake on the back of her neck and steered her exactly where the Huntress wanted her to go.

 

They did the normal stuff. Shopped for some groceries and looked around some of the shops. But when they stopped in front of a shop that had everything they would need for their garden, Blake's eyes went wide with excitement causing Yang to giggle at the sight, which got her a glare from the girl, but who cares. That was the most adorable thing she has seen in awhile. It almost beat Ruby's puppy dog face. Almost.

 

“So, you know what we need, I'll be following you around in here.” She says.

 

Blake looks up at her and nods her head, “Alright.” And in they went.

 

Yang didn't take her hand away and Blake never told her to. They were still being really careful about their surroundings. The Huntress isn't afraid to let everyone know that it was Blake that knew what she was doing in her, but she didn't want the owner to throw a fit about a Faunas touching all his supplies without the 'Master keeping a leash on their animal'.

 

“Wheel barrel.” Blake says. Yang nods her head and takes them over there, extremely aware of the owner watching the two closely. She looks over at the owner and he looks away quickly, but still sends glances their way. Blake grabs a wheel barrel and they two walk over to the bags of soil.

 

The Faunas is still a bit too week to lift the bags so Yang gave her loud instructions to stand there while she loaded a few into the Barrel, giving her a wink as she did so. Blake gives her a small smile, but does exactly as she says, maybe a bit too well considering Blake looks exactly like a statue as she stood there. Yang couldn't help but compare her to a real life cat.

 

After getting the soil, Blake has them get a few rakes and then they leave – after Yang gives the owner a few hundred lien, fucking rip-off.

 

“Can you believe how much money that was?” Yang whispers lowly, but knowing that Blake's cat ears caught them. The smirk she has letting her know that she had indeed heard that. Yang smiles, “Too bad he is the only store that has everything we need. Maybe if I flirt a little and flaunt my gauntlets, he'll give us a discount next time.”

 

That got Blake to give a laugh. The people walking by giving her weird looks, which Yang gave them a smile in return. Deciding it was best to wait till they got out of town before she continued complaining or thinking of different plans to get discounts, she stayed quiet. But not before catching Blake say loud enough only for her, “Just wiggle your chest a little. That will cause him to pass out form blood loss.” She lets out a snort and giggle from that.

 

“Probably.”

 

Then they were in silence.

* * *

“ _Yang, you should really consider getting yourself someone to help out.”_

 

_The Huntress turned around to face her sister. They were both standing in the middle of The Blonde's living room. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion at Ruby, “Did Weiss get you to try to talk me into getting a slave?”_

 

_Ruby looked everywhere but at Yang, her hand rubbing the back of her head in nervousness, “W-well, I mean, it's not an entirely bad idea. This place is pretty big for one person and we think that it would be a good idea to, you know, get some help.” The girl's eyes widened in realization at what she said, “Not that I think that you need help because you are crazy!” She exclaimed, waving her hands back and forth in front of she makes eye contact with Yang._

 

_Yang let her sister panic for a few more minutes, letting the girl dig herself a bigger grave before finally placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. “Alright, I'll get someone to help me around the house.”_

 

_Ruby paused and really looked at Yang, “Really?”_

 

“ _Really. But!” She said, stopping her sister from jumping in joy from her triumph on getting her to do what Weiss wanted her to do, “It'll be someone I want. Tell Weiss to get me all the information I'll need on Blake.”_

 

_Ruby froze at that, “B-blake?”_

 

_Yang nodded her head, “Yep.” She said with a pop on the 'p'. “I don't want any other Faunas but her.” She could feel her eyes get cold and distant as she stared at Ruby._

 

_After a few moments, her sister hesitantly nodded her head in acknowledgment. “I'll try.” and then she was gone._

 

_Yang walked over to her couch and flopped down on it. Her eyes staring at nothing in particular. She was finally going to do it. Finally going to get some kind of justice from everything that has happened to her since when they joined the war tell the very end of it. Having Adam die at the end of the war just wasn't enough. She needed more._

 


	8. Chapter 8

The heat. Normally she would relish in it, how it makes her feel comfortable and safe, how she could just fall asleep under it. Today, however, today was different. She cursed it, cursed how Yang was having her work under the blazing sun. Blake read the weather report. It's ninety-four degrees outside, yet this Blonde demon has them working out in the garden today. From six in the morning till the current time. She glances up at the sun, squinting her eyes at the brightness before looking back down at the ground, letting out an exasperated sigh. She runs the back of her hand across her forehead, wiping away some sweat. It's probably around noon or just passed it by now. Not that the time would matter much, she looks at Yang, her master giving no indication that the sun was bothering her. Actually, Blake is the only one out of the both of them that is dripping in sweat. It's like the Huntress is immune to the heat.

 

“That makes sense.” Blake mutters before going back to pulling up weeds again.

 

“Did you say something?” Yang calls out to her, completely oblivious to the Faunas' state. Her lilac eyes gazing at her with curiosity.

 

Blake shakes her head, feeling some of the sweat drops fling from her skin. Her nose crinkles in disgust, more than sure enough that she can now smell her own body odor. Not something she ever wanted to find out that she could do anytime soon. Let's just chalk up one point for Yang on being the first master to ever have a Faunas learn something new about themselves. The note she can leave next to it 'If you sweat long enough you can smell your own body odor.'

 

She can feel those eyes staring at her still and she looks up into them. Amber and Lilac boring into each other. “Yes?” She questions, feeling a bit uncomfortable at how Yang seems to be trying to read her mind.

 

“Do you need to take a break?” She asks as she stands up, brushing off her gloves and takes them off as she walks over to Blake. “I know we have been out here for awhile now and you look like you may pass out from overexertion.”

 

Blake frown at her choice of words, “I don't think I'm going to pass out from working too much.” She states.

 

Yang chuckles, “Sorry, let me rephrase what I said. You look like you are about to pass out from exhaustion and lack of water in your system.” The Blonde gestures towards Blake's face, “I can see the beads of sweat dripping off of you. Maybe I should have set up a water station out here.” She says the last part more to herself as she looks towards the back door with a frown.

 

_'A little too late for that.'_ Blake thinks as she also stands up. “Sure. If you are fine with taking a break. I know you wanted to make a big difference in the garden.”

 

This time the Huntress really laughs, “And we did! I mean look!” She waves towards the area causing the Faunas to look around. Instead of a bunch of weeds and rotten vegetables – The Blonde had tried to grow before hand – it was now mostly cleared except for the last bit they are currently working on. They could even start planting if they really wanted to. “I'd say that earns us a ten minute break.”

 

Blake slowly turns her head back to her, giving her a dead-pan stare.

 

Yang laughs and slaps her shoulder, a bit harder than she probably intended to because Blake actually winced from the strength behind it. “I was just kidding. Lighten up a bit. We can call it a day.”

 

Blake let's out a breath. “I would like to excuse myself to take a shower, if you don't mind.”

 

The Blonde waves right hand, dismissing the request like it was stupid for her to even ask, “Of course. I'll make some lunch and then I can think of something else to do that isn't in this heat.” She walks back into the house.

 

Blake wasn't too far behind her, but split off to go back to her room to wash herself. She walks over to her bathing area and turns on the water. Not too cold but not too hot. It's perfect. When they went into town the other day, Yang had picked up some shampoo and soap. At the time Blake thought it was for herself until they started to unpack everything and she handed them to her. It was the last thing that she thought the Huntress would do for her after the argument they had on the way to town. Hell she was still angry at Yang even on their way back home. Even if they ended up joking about the salesman at the garden shop. Ignorant human.

 

It's not that she didn't believe what Yang had said about Adam. She just didn't want to and still doesn't want to believe that it was true. But even she can't stay blind forever when she sees proof of everything. The clippings from the war, journals, the way the Blonde would mumble stuff when she couldn't hear it. Like she was still in the war even after all this time. Sometimes, Blake would notice her eyes turn red even though there was nothing there for her to be angry at or get defensive of. Like she sees every demon is haunting her from that time and she can't control how she reacts or feels.

 

PTSD they call it. Blake read about it in one of her books. Psychological book that one of her masters just left around and she ended up reading when she didn't have anything else to do. She remembers that it is caused when someone has experienced – or witnessed – a very traumatic event. That would explain her behavior. Blake would assume to put it under flashbacks. She isn't sure if she has nightmares and it doesn't seem like Yang has severe anxiety, but the Huntress seems to be really good at hiding how she truly feels. It's that smile. Sometimes it will be very bright – like after a flashback – and other times it will be small, like she isn't really in the mood to smile but will anyways if it means you will smile too. Yang hasn't exactly been successful in making Blake smile. The Faunas doesn't count the jokes about the salesman; or rather she would not like to count it even though it totally counts.

 

Even after all that, Blake definitely can't ignore that Adam's name comes out of her mouth from those moments more and more. Sometimes, when the blond is sitting in the living room, she would hear Baron's name, but that always came with tears. Then the Faunas would find herself closing her bedroom door quietly in hopes Yang wouldn't find out that she was ease dropping on her. Blake's ears droop as she strips herself of her clothing and steps underneath the water. A shiver runs up her spine but she ignores it, instead enjoying the feel of getting clean again, washing off the sticky sweat. The water pounding against her skin feels so good, like she is cleansing herself of all her sins. Only, what sins would that be? Blake's eyebrows furrow in confusion. What could she possible feel that are sins that she has performed? Instantly her thoughts shift towards Yang and her arm. Could she feel responsible for that? Yang did say that Adam was the one that had done that to her. Could she be taking the Blame instead for not being able to stop Adam? If she had known Adam was going to attack Beacon, could she have stopped him? Blake shakes her head, running a hand through her hair.

 

She doesn't even know why she feels bad for Yang. She should believe those words that Adam told her back then. When she first noticed Huntsmen and Huntresses fighting against them.

* * *

“ _Adam!” She storms into his tent. Anger rolling off of her in waves. “What did you do?” She accused him already. Didn't even give him a chance to try and explain, but something in her gut told her that it was Adam. Whenever something with bloodshed happens, Adam was always the one that was there. It was just something she always over looked because he always had an incredible excuse that would make it seem like he wasn't in the wrong and that if he hadn't done what he did, they wouldn't have a chance for their equality._

 

_He turned to look at her, but instead of those soft brown eyes, she is met with the grim mask. Something new he decided to do. 'Humanity chose to make monsters of us, so we chose to put on the face of monsters.' It was stupid. She never did agree with it, so she chose never to wear a mask. She wasn't a monster, she was a being that wanted to be seen as an equal. Instead she wore a bow to hide who she was until it was safe for her to embrace who she is. Not that there was a single person who didn't know who she was at this point._

 

“ _What do you mean?” He asked, as he turned back to the board in front of him. His lieutenants standing around the table also turned their attention back to the board, apparently already losing interest in the fact that she was angry. They probably already knew what she was angry about. They always knew before her lately and she didn't like it. Blake wanted Adam to start running things by her again like they did in the beginning. One never doing anything without the other knowing._

 

_She let out a growl, “Out!” She commanded. They look toward Adam and he let out a sigh, waving for them to leave them alone. They walked brushed past her. “What did you do to get the Huntsmen involved?” She demanded. It had to be him after all, nobody attacked without his say, like her brethren were now following him because they fear him instead of look up to him._

 

“ _I didn't do anything.” He stated, turning around to face her again. “They are finally showing their support against us. It's as simple as that.”_

 

_Something in the back of her mind was telling her not to believe him, but her heart got in the way. The need to trust the one person who understood her the most. To believe the one person who protected her for a very long time. “You didn't-” She stopped and tried again, “You didn't invade beacon like some of our people are saying you did? It's just a rumor?”_

 

_He walked forward and cupped the side of her face, his thumb gently rubbed her cheek bone. She just assumed he was gazing at her with those tender eyes filled with love and adoration. “It wasn't like that. I promise.” He whispered. Her cat ears twitched underneath her bow. God how she loved his voice when he would whisper things to her. How rough but gentle it sounded._

 

“ _I should have went with you when you went to talk to Ozpin. I knew I would have been good in that situation.” She murmured and turned her head to kiss the palm of his hand. The nagging feeling still in the back of her head, but is quickly being pushed aside by the overwhelming desire to believe in him still._

 

“ _I wasn't sure if they were going to be hostile or not.” He whispered and pulled her into a hug. His hands running up and down her back in a soothing motion. The anger slowly leaved her body and she relaxed into his embrace. “I wanted to make sure you were safe. If I lost you...” He trailed off._

 

_Blake never asked him to finish that sentence. He never had to. She knew what he was getting at and she knew that she would feel the same way. If she was ever to lose him, she wouldn't know what she would do. Se would lose herself. Completely lose all faith in humanity, in this world._

 

“ _I'm sorry, Blake.” He pulls away, “I have to let my lieutenants back in. We have to strategize more carefully now. Everything has changed. We can't... I can't let you go back out there. It's too dangerous.”_

 

_With that he walked out of the tent to go and gather his men. Blake just stood there, staring after him. Even still there was something nagging at the back of her mind, but she pushed it down, locked it up and never thought about it. Adam was going to save their kind. There was no room to doubt him._

* * *

Blake turns off the water and just stands there. That feeling that she felt long ago, was that her conscious telling her that Adam wasn't telling the truth. Should she believe Yang? Is she really making herself be blind towards the man that Adam really was? Is her anger for nothing? Were the humans in the right the whole time? Blake shakes her head and slams her fist into the wall. No. They enslaved her kind. What righteousness do they deserve by doing that?

 

She snaps out of her thoughts by Yang busting through her door, “Blake! I heard a loud bang! Are you al-” She pauses and just stares at her. Yang's cheeks instantly flush red.

 

Blake feels an unfamiliar heat creeping up her face. This wasn't what she was expecting.

 

Yang quickly turns around, standing straight and ridged, “I-I'm sorry! I thought you had hurt yourself!”

 

Blake scrambles and grabs her bed sheet, wrapping it around her body. “It's okay.” She says smoothly. Surprised that her voice is calmer than her own heart at this moment. When Yang doesn't move an inch, Blake quietly walks up behind her and peeks around to get a look at her face. Her eyes are shut tight and her face is beet red. “Are you okay?” She asks.

 

Yang jumps from the sound of her voice being right next to her, swerving her body to look directly at her with wide eyes. Blake watches as she scans her from head to toe and The Huntress lets out a visible sigh of relief. “Sorry, I didn't mean to just barge in on you while you were taking a shower. I just heard a loud bang and I was worried and I just acted before I thought. You are okay right?” Yang says everything really fast, obviously still embarrassed about what happened.

 

“I'm fine.” Blake tilts her head and the blush re-appears on the Blonde's face. Then Blake's eyebrow furrow in confusion, “I'm not used to...” She shakes her head and looks down, “Most people wouldn't even come and check if I was okay.” She whispers, and walks back into her room, going to the tiny dresser where only a few pairs of clothing are.

 

“So, you aren't used to kindness.” Yang states.

 

Blake lets out a sigh. She just feels so tired of everything; Of feeling angry, of being confused, of living like this when she should be treated like every human. The Faunas just wants to live her life. Maybe go out and see some places and she knows, she knows that if she asked Yang to take her somewhere, to go and travel around and sight see everything – even though they would have to play the master/slave roles in public – she would take her. Not because she wanted Blake to be happy, but because she is nice enough to go and do something that would make Blake happy. And that thought in and of its own, scares her the most.

 

“Can I get dressed?” Blake asks, looking back at Yang, who is staring at her very intently.

 

As if the question brought her back from a different world, she snaps back from her thoughts and exits the room, closing the door softly behind her. Blake stares at the door for a second, listening to Yang's footsteps grow farther away towards the direction of the kitchen. Blake busies herself with dressing herself in some raggedy old clothing. It's like a uniform to her now, except it's the only thing she can wear. Normally a Faunas slave would get a new pair from their new master and you are technically supposed to throw away your old clothing. Only Blake didn't like only one pair of clothing, so she secretly kept all the other ones so she can at least switch and wash her clothes.

 

After getting dressed, Blake walks out of her room and towards the kitchen. She stops in the doorway and watches Yang as she makes some tuna sandwiches. Blake's cat ears twitch to the sound of her whistling a tune she doesn't recognize. Blake leans up against the door frame and just observes her master. It's not often she gets to see her be as bright as the sun, like there isn't anything haunting her or that she doesn't have a care in the world. Though she notices that the Huntress tries to give off that impression – and she was successful at first – Blake can see right through her now. They have only been together as Master and Servant for a short while and yet it feels to Blake like they have known each other for years, like they were meant to be together.

 

Blake shakes her head and stares at the ground, her eyebrows furrowing at her own thoughts. She can't deny that she does feel comfortable around the Blonde, which causes her to feel uncomfortable. The Faunas isn't used to these feelings with a human, after all, they have been nothing but cruel to her. Even before the end of the war. It was only her kind that she has felt comfortable around, yet for some reason, she feels it with Yang. Sure, The Blonde scares Blake sometimes and her involvement with the war does put a bad taste in her mouth, but there is no excuse she can use to talk herself into denying the way she feels.

 

Yang twirls around and smiles brightly at Blake. The Faunas just stares back at her. She isn't exactly ready to start showing that she feels any different towards her Master. After all, this could all be a trick to lower her defenses before she strikes and causes Blake more harm. There isn't anything worse than shattering a persons trust for you.

 

“Hey! I hope you don't mind, but I made tuna sandwiches.” She places the plates on the table and gestures for Blake to it down. The Raven-haired Faunas eyes the food before taking the Yang's offer. Yang grins and sits down across from her. Blake feels those Lilac eyes on her as she takes a bit of her food. Looking across from herself, she sees the Huntress observing her intently, like she is trying to see underneath her clothing again.

 

Blake swallows her food and clears her throat, snapping the Blonde's attention back to her eyes. “Is there something wrong?”

 

“Who caused all those scars?” Yang asks bluntly.

 

Blake, who had taken another bite of her sandwich, started coughing violently from the surprise of the very unexpected question. The Brawler reacted quickly, appearing beside her and slapping her back hard. Blake finally manages to swallow her food correctly and Yang quickly gets her a glass of water to help clear her throat even more. She gratefully accepts the water and chugs a good amount of it. After she was sure that she could speak again, Yang sits back in her seat and looks at the Faunas expectantly. “It really is none of your business.” Blake says.

 

Yang sighs, “I knew you were going to respond like that.” She mutters. “Look, Blake,” She begins, “I'm not stupid, I know that... Humans did that to you. All I'm asking is for you to talk to me about them. Sometimes, all you have to do is talk, to relax.” She smiles gently at her.

 

Blake blinks back at her and leans back against her chair, hands resting on top of the table. Should she tell her? She hates to recall those memories. Not that it's too painful, but because they make her irrationally angry. Though, it's not like she doesn't have a reason to not be angry, it's just, she finally feels some what peaceful at the moment and doesn't really want to ruin the mood. Though would it really ruin the mood?

 

“These ones.” She points to the faint scars on her knuckles, “Their from the Enforces.” She scoffs and lightly runs a finger over them, “I was walking by a stall, my second Master right behind me, and the Merchant behind the stall _saw_ me try to steal something from the stall.” She narrows her eyes. “They were selling some stupid home made bracelets. What the hell was I gonna do with those?” Blake shakes her head, “Anyways, my master didn't seem it was worth trying to defend me so the Enforces cut into my knuckles with a knife ten times. On each knuckle.” Blake pauses for a moment and then giggles to herself, Yang's eyes widen a fraction from the Faunas' laugh, obviously not expecting it. Blake looks at her with a smile. A genuine smile. “Turns out, my Master was the one that stole the Bracelet and let me take the fall for it. Some how they managed to make it seem like I took it. Only after they searched me and found nothing, it was like it never happened. I got punished for nothing”

 

Yang's hands clench into fists. Blake could only imagine what she was thinking. Probably trying to find the humor in that like Blake did. Though there wasn't any real humor at all, it just felt better to laugh at the memory than hold a grudge. For some reason, she suddenly hates holding onto her grudges. It's like after thinking about Adam and everything that he did, if he lied to her or if she should keep believing in what he said, just made her too tired to be angry at anyone right now. If she can't sort out her own thoughts and feelings about the man she had thought was an angel brought to earth for her kind, why hold onto anything against the demons in her world? It's like she is no better than them. Wanting nothing but bloodshed and revenge. She mentally shakes her head. Blake still can't bring herself into believing Yang about Adam. All of this is just too much for her right now.

 

Today went from okay to horrible real quick. She hates that.

 

Blake stands up, leaving a half eaten sandwich on her plate. “Excuse me. I'm actually pretty tired. I think I'm going to go and lie down. Come and get me if you need my help with anything Mas-” She stops herself and clears her throat, “Yang.” And she walks out of the kitchen and back to her room.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Yang is pacing back and forth in her room. She has been this way since yesterday, after the talk with Blake. It's true that she has known that the Faunus has scars. They were plain to see on her arms and legs. Even her feet has beatings, like someone took a belt and lashed it across her bare feet. Yang feels the anger boiling in her, wanting nothing more than to go and hunt those who caused all that pain to Blake and make them go through the same thing. Everything seems so unfair now that she doesn't even know what is right and what is wrong.

 

So many of her comrades fallen in that damned war. The huntress wanting nothing more than to hate all the Faunus for what they did, but if she stops and thinks about Blake's side of everything, Yang can't fault them for being the way they are.

 

Of course there is that one aspect of them attacking children and slaughtering all the humans in the outskirt towns. Yang stops pacing and slams her hands down on top of her desk. That is one thing that should never get over looked. From the way that Blake would react whenever she brought up what the Faunus really did during the war, she always seemed more surprise or defiant of it. Which normally tells the Blonde that she really did not know what was really happening.

 

 _'Dammit!'_ she pushes off the desk and begins her pacing anew. The Huntress doesn't know what to think anymore. Everything she ever knew is starting to become unclear. Yang pauses in her pacing, she could always be like her little sister, see the good in everyone even when they are pure evil. She lets out a groan and begins pacing, yet again. That is the most impossible thing for Yang to do. She may act optimistic but in reality, she is so pessimistic that she could rival Weiss. Not that she would ever mention that to the ice princess, who would most likely turn it into a competition between the two of them. Which one is the most pessimistic person? In the left corner we have Weiss Schnee! And in the right corner, Yang Xiao Long! Place your bets!

 

She stops and giggles to herself. That would be a sight to see.

 

A knock is heard from her door, snapping her thoughts back to the present. She walks over to the door, yanking it open to reveal the one person that is currently the star of her thoughts. Those Amber eyes studying her curiously.

 

“I can hear you pacing.” She motions to the floor. “I'm underneath you, remember?” The Black-haired woman says with a sassy tone. Damn did she love to hear her talk like that. Wait, What?

 

“Um, I'm sorry.” Yang breathes out.

 

Blake raises an eyebrow at the Huntress, “Can I come in?”

 

“Uh.” She moves to the side and gestures for the Faunus to enter, “Of course!” She says quickly, trying to cover up the wavering in her voice.

 

Blake walks a few steps into the room and stops to turn and face Yang with a curious look. “What's wrong?”

“Wow, you really don't beat around the bush do you?” Yang tries to stall, not wanting to get into this type of conversation with Blake. Every time they do it seems it always ends in an argument. For once she would like to end the day on a good note.

 

Blake, of course, wasn't going to have it and sat directly on the Blonde's bed. “Out with it.”

 

Yang knows if she really didn't want to talk about it she could just send Blake back to her room. Really, there wasn't anything the Faunus good do about it. Except there is something about the way Blake is looking at her. She can't place her finger on it, but it feels like this is her one and only chance to really open up to Blake. To show her that Yang truly doesn't mean her any harm. At least not anymore.

 

“I was thinking about conflicting things.” Yang answers. She knows it's a vague answer, but really how is she supposed to go into this without upsetting the woman sitting on her bed at the moment.

 

Blake tilts her head in that oh-so-god-forsaken-cute-way that really makes Yang's barriers falter, “Such as?”

 

The Brawler shrugs, walking over to her desk and leans up against it facing Blake. “I'm trying to figure out what your role in the war was.” She raises her hands in defense at the leveled glare Blake sent her way, “I'm just trying to figure out how come you didn't know what was going on out there on the battlefield. You were on T.V. Most of the time and talked like you knew what Adam was up to,” She pauses, looking straight into those amber eyes that are looking everywhere but at her at the moment. “You had to have known that all the peace talk you were spewing out was getting over thrown by what he was doing.”

 

Silence. Of course she should have expected Blake to be silent about it. They are treading onto thin ice here. Every time they even got close to talking about this stuff the Faunus would get defensive and try to fight for what Adam was doing. To fight for the fact that Adam truly wanted peace.

 

Yang feels her anger rising in the pit of her stomach. The silence getting on her nerves more than anything else. Just as she was about to tell Blake to go to bed and forget this whole conversation, her smooth voice cuts through the silence.

 

“I didn't want to see it.”

 

The Blonde, shocked at what she heard, studies the woman. Obvious discomfort taking over Blake's body language.

 

Blake grabs at the sheets she is sitting on and tightens her grip. “I-” She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and letting it out through her nose. Steeling herself against whatever she is about to tell the Huntress in front of her. “I wanted to see the good in him. He was what our people needed at the time. The will to change things to a way where we could be seen as equals.” She snorts a bit and looks out the window to the right. It is clear to Yang that she is coming to some revelations of her own. “If only I could have seen what he was really doing. Every time I questioned him about it, he would always find a way to point it back at the Humans. And I-” Again she pauses, her eyes squinting, brows furrowing in what the Blonde would say disbelief. “I let myself believe what he told me.” Finally she looks back at Yang, face expressionless hiding the emotions she was just showing all too well for Yang's tastes. “I just didn't want to see him for the monster you and your people rightfully made him out to be.”

 

They stare at each other. Yang trying to gather how easy it was to have Blake reveal this to her. She won't let it pass that Blake is indeed still fighting an inner war with herself. Yang is going through the same thing as well. Trying to figure out if Blake is different,worthy of her trust, something she has given to anyone except for her team and her ex-partner.

 

After what felt like ages to Yang, she finally moves, some thing compelling her to walk straight up to the Faunus on her bed. Blake's eyes throwing her a questioning stare. She reaches out with her robotic hand, gently touching the tips of her fingers to Blake's left cheek. The Faunus' eyes going wide with surprise, but the unvoiced question still in her eyes.

 

Yang smiles and retracts her hand, “It's funny, there are plenty of friends that I have that swear I'm not the monster your people make me out to be.” She looks away, running a hand through her blonde hair, “But I am.” She says simply, shrugging her shoulders.

 

She doesn't know why she was compelled to say that, like it would alleviate any pain Blake was feeling over her own revelation of Adam. It just seemed like it's the same, like she is the same as Adam.

 

“You're not.”

 

Yang snaps her attention back to the woman, who had shifted forward on the bed to be a little closer to the Blonde while she was looking away. Her lilac eyes wide with surprise. That was the last thing she expected to hear from Blake.

 

“If you were, I think my living arrangements would be shittier than they are.” Blake says with a shrug.

 

Though Yang understood what she was trying to say. That she would probably have some bruises if she was truly a monster.

 

The Huntress smiles at the Faunus, “I just hope I can live up to that expectation.”

 

Luckily for Yang, Blake knew when to leave. She didn't have to say a word to her for her to get that this conversation is over. The Faunus left without another word.

 

' _things are looking up.'_ Yang thinks. This was the first conversation they truly had that didn't end in someone getting hurt or an argument breaking out. It was nice.

 


End file.
